𝐒𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐭│𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐮 ✓

81

Healina

Joshua awoke with an unfamiliar warmth surrounding him, the strange events of the previous day catching up with his sleepy head. He turned his head slightly to see the peaceful face of Seokmin half buried in the crook of his neck.

He didn't know what he should say to him, Joshua always had an informative remark or solution for any problem but not when this concept was so foreign. With a lack of any other ideas he stared into the corner of Seokmin's room, encased in a new sense of calm where he believed his mind really should've been going crazy.

His eyes widened slightly as he felt himself being drawn closer to the younger who was subconsciously hugging him tighter. He contemplated leaving, theorising just how realistic those movies are where people are able to quickly switch things out for similar objects. He didn't have to think for too long however as a loud alarm rang through the room. Seokmin groaned at the rude awakening, attempting to slap his bedside table to find it. It stopped when Seokmin woke up enough to realise he wasn't alone, sheepishly letting go of the boy and actually bothering to look where the alarm was and turning it off.

"Hey Shua," He breathed out sleepily, waking up to scan Joshua's eyes for any sign of discomfort. Joshua was able to smile back, "Hello Seok," He said, meeting Seokmin's stare. It was slightly awkward, they'd known each other for years but the atmosphere had shifted somewhat. If anyone was watching they'd probably think it was quite strange just how long the boys stared at each other silently but Joshua snapped out of it first, "Oh no Seok you're going to be late for work." He realised, having memorised his schedule ages ago.

Seokmin instantly shot up with a gasp, throwing the covers aside as he frantically picked out his uniform and ran to the bathroom to get ready. It was the weekend and Joshua had nothing to do so he allowed himself to wrap back up in the covers, checking his phone for the first time since the morning prior. He pouted at all the missed calls and worried messages, 'How did she even get my number?' He muttered when he saw even Bohee was blowing up his phone.

When he was scrolling through the wall of notifications he smiled as he heard Seokmin a few metres away, singing to himself in the shower. He wanted to talk about everything but since Seokmin had work he decided he'd use the time to collect his thoughts and reassure his younger friends he really is okay.

He began typing away and eventually ended up agreeing to go to Vernon's house later, the young couple was a good refresher since he never saw them fight, he presumed they probably had a few times but never publicly so he was always very impressed with how well the two meshed together. The singing stopped and Joshua turned his head to see Seokmin coming in once again. "Forgot my shirt," The younger gleamed, stood in the rest of his work uniform but with curly wet hair and obviously a lack of a shirt.

'Think pure thoughts, you're a Healinan' He had to chant in his head, this new light he'd never seen Seokmin in was definitely waking up parts of him he didn't know he had. Genuinely he didn't know if he could ever be in a relationship with Seokmin yet, there was a lot of apprehension and disjointed feelings and the sight before him wasn't helping. "Stop blushing you dork," Seokmin said, also blushing.

Joshua snapped out of his small daze and hid himself in the safety of the sheets, "I'm just tired now shoo." He said making Seokmin chuckle as he did eventually leave for work.

Joshua didn't even get time to knock before the door to Vernon's house was opened for him and he felt a large impact on his chest, "Never do that again, idiot," After taking a moment to process, Joshua hugged back, the sensitive Seungkwan pulling on the hem of his shirt. Joshua ruffled his hair, "Sorry Kwannie, I'll find a way to make it up to you," He promised, unlatching himself from the younger so he could greet Vernon.

"Glad you're alive bro," Came Vernon's far more casual remark, moving aside so they could enter. "Well you're not having your usual Joshua crisis so I can assume it went well?" Seungkwan asked, calming down a little as he found a place on Vernon's lap in the living room. Joshua sat opposite and nodded in thought, "I guess so, I just feel a little strange," He explained.

"Strange?"

"Strange. I know everything about him, I spend almost all my time with him and I care about him deeply but this year it's started to feel weirder... my chest feels funny and he makes it hard to focus on my studying but I don't know what that's about,"

Seungkwan squeaked lightly at the cute comment, "Vern it looks like our Joshie has his first crush," He teased, wiggling around in excitement, his scolding tone replaced by a much more childish one. "A crush?" Joshua questioned, the word sounding foreign on his lips. Despite wanting to have a relationship he didn't think he'd ever felt what a crush was meant to be like, assuming there was a small window in youth where you may or may not get misguided feelings for someone but him? It couldn't be.

"Well how did you two feel at the start?" Joshua asked, he wanted a way to plan out this correctly so he didn't do anything wrong, therefore deeming it necessary research plus the fact he enjoyed watching the young couple fawn over each other. "When I first met Kwannie I thought he was too loud, I could always hear him in the classroom and it would piss 7 year old me off to no end so I attacked him with some PVA glue to get him to shut up," Vernon grinned at the memory, far too proud of himself. "It was horrible, this kid I hardly even knew existed is just smearing glue all over my face and the teacher just cooed at us because it was cute," He said, fake shivering at the last word, "I wanted him sent to Odera that instant," Even from a young age his boyfriend had been unconventional to say the least.

"So I'm meant to hate Seok...?"

"No! I thought this clueless thing would be over by the time he confessed but you're still an idiot." Joshua pouted, "What am I meant to do then?" He asked.

"Just act how you were before, if you're unsure let Seokmin guide you, the boy is too caring to even dream of hurting you or making you uncomfortable so you're in safe hands. You have loads of time, we don't even have a ceremony for anyone this year so we can move on and grow a little slower," Vernon reassured, they were all very glad there was no one at risk of leaving, after Jeonghan they really didn't know what to expect so it was nice to not have the extra stress.

"He could've picked a better time though, we have finals soon, especially you Shua," Seungkwan commented, they always ran until December so the ceremony wouldn't disrupt anything and it would be Joshua's last year before starting to go into working life. "You're not going to move away are you? It'd be so hard to not be able to see you all the time," Seungkwan questioned, suddenly slightly worried. With everything that had been going on they didn't even have time to think about what was next.

Thankfully, Joshua shook his head, "No I don't think so, Healina isn't that big anyway so if I do it's not like I'll never see you guys again. You worry too much Kwan." They continued talking, about Seokmin, about the future and it did help a little. It turns out Seokmin's words, or rather action, didn't shatter everything. He could make this work.

And if anything, at least next year would bring no more curveballs, right?